Bad experience in Mahahual

[alcina]

rich - that can be true, but isn't always, of course... I'd want to do it before I left, too...but we digress & wander off the topic at hand

 

[Torontonian]

Ianr33,
Only reason why I signed up for this site was that I read some, like I said, somewhat nice reviews about this place, and just got so pissed about the situation once more. I think the guy called himself Torontonian or something. By accident I have vacationpics from the centre with him.... so if you really doubt me we could always get him involved....

Hi there.

Sorry to hear your bad experience with Blue Ocean Safari. I'm Torontonian and had wrote the review. Just curious, I posted my review on Oct. 13/06, for my diving there on Aug. 31. How did you read my review before, and went to dive there in Aug. (i.e. before I posted my review and before I dove there)? I'd be interested in seeing the vacationpics from the centre of me. Unless it was someone else you thought.

I think I wrote my review in detail to let people know of the situation there. The diving was pretty good. The cruise ship did not run their docking well. The shop Blue Ocean Safari was not organized, and even had a tank with only 1500psi when we went out. In the second trip out, they again had a tank half full. They had explanations, and the explanations could be true or false. I reported what I saw and heard. But the diving itself was pretty good.

Also keep in mind my review was diving from a cruise ship, on a port stop. DreamTime and MayaPalms were other choices. DreamTime was ruled out because they would charge double their regular rate, because we were from cruise ship and they signed up to be Carnival's contractor. MayaPalms is extra 1/2 hr away and $40 (round trip) by taxi. Those are important considerations when going there on a limited time, from cruise ship. If not from cruise ship but staying in Mahuhual for several days, the double charge from DreamTime would not apply. The extra 1/2 hr and $40 taxi ride to MayaPalm would also become minor. The decisions may be different. But we did still get good diving from BOS.

As for taking a course while on vacation, many people do that. I wouldn't dive in the cool or cold weather, and especially not where I live in Toronto. The dive shops here told me even in the middle of summer, the "advanced" divers only diving to Lake Ontario to 60' would require wearing 6mm inside and 6mm outside and 30lb of weight, in murky muddy cold water where you see little fish, no coral growth, and maybe some sponges if vis allows. I (and many people) have no desire to learn diving in that situation. However, during a warm water vacation when it is very convenient and much more beautiful, that's where people would decide to try and learn diving. That's what hapenned to me, and I decided to get certified.

Taking certification courses are done in many different ways. Many would NOT include the materials or crew pack for you to keep. You have to find out whether you get to keep any, and that includes log books. For the PADI AOW course they had to keep the Q&A pages with my answers, so even though I did get a used book before hand (without some of those Q&A pages), I ended up having to buy a new book, so they can keep those pages. They did fill out the PADI certification forms, with the instructor's signature and temporary card. I had to find/take a picture, and mail to PADI myself. Some shops would include mailing the form in for you if you provide a pic. But you have to ask what all the course fees include.


I'd suggest you keep on trying, and including the owner Julie and/or Phil in the emails. The infrastructure in Mahahual is not very stable. I had also called MayaPalm before and did not get through. Calling the toll free number to BOS often did not get through, and when I got through it was answering machine. But with some patience, Julie and/or Phil did get around to answering most of my emails. I haven't contacted them after my trip. But for a small start-up shop like them, people's review are very important, and I hope they would pay attention to them, and rectify issues. Only then will they get more business. All in all, I would still say the diving in Mahahual was pretty good. I would go back there to dive again. With many more cruise ships planning to go there, they are building and building up the area. The infrastructure and diving operations there should get better and better.

 

[whalerock]

Its very easy, the instructor have to give you a book AND you need to keep it after the course. This is a worldwide PADI standard, if your instructor didnt give you one to keep, than she violated standards.
Another standard is that she should give you a logbook where you can kep track of your dive experience
Its sounds she was not a good instructor at all, I hope you did all the skills and all the dives,but if you dont have a proof than you may have to do the course again.
The best way, call padi or write a mail, www.padi.com, there is a contact on the website, explain your situation and they will help you.
Make sure you have all the relevant information like Instructor Name, if possible PADI number, dive centre name and location ....

I hope this help
Thomas

 

[N_22]

Thank you all for your replies!

I guess our next step will be to email PADI and see what they can do for us.... I have the instructors name, tons of pics with her, before our dives, from their shop and the equipment, as well as their card (of course with the PADI logo all over it...).... We were told that if we wanted to dive before getting the real cards, the operator could easily check from the internet that we were certified. This obviously did not work, so for the 3 more weeks of our vacation, we were not able to dive. Which might mildly piss you off when your sitting in the caribbean.....

Torontonian, I did not see your review before we went there, but we were there at the 31 of Aug, and saw the whole mess with the tanks.... the boat you had was the one we had already been waiting for since 8.30 in the morning, and then since your actual boat didn´t turn up, you had to use ours, since you would otherwise have missed your ship. We waited for a few more hours, surprisingly..... Correct me if I´m wrong but you have asian roots. You also had some of your own equipment, at least the wetsuite.

From all of your comments.... don´t I feel stupid! I understand that it might be a possibility that we might have to redo the whole thing.... I´m sorry if somebody already answered this, but is it a fact that our instructor can certify us as long as her paperwork is done? She does not have to work for a licensed centre? Or was the point that it can be done, but she will get into trouble for it?

 

[itziar]

From all of your comments.... don´t I feel stupid! I understand that it might be a possibility that we might have to redo the whole thing.... I´m sorry if somebody already answered this, but is it a fact that our instructor can certify us as long as her paperwork is done? She does not have to work for a licensed centre? Or was the point that it can be done, but she will get into trouble for it?

Hi N_22. Your instructor might be a qualified PADI instructor and work for a center which is not a PADI center. Please contact PADI and wait until you receive a reply from them.

I am not surprised that your information was not with PADI just a few weeks after you certified though. If the information was sent by post, it could well have taken a month for it to reach PADI HQ from Mexico. Not receiving the temporary certification card was a real problem, because you could have dived with that between your certification date and the end of your vacation.

As for the level of your training, not receiving the standard PADI package (book and log-book), in my own experience, does not necessarily reflect the quality of the training you received. As I stated above, I did not receive any of these materials either in my open water course, and I did have a superb training from my instructor. After 200 dives, I know this well enough now.

Keep us posted on how your situation evolves. Fingers crossed for you...

 

[2dive.com]

I'd suggest you keep on trying, and including the owner Julie and/or Phil in the emails. The infrastructure in Mahahual is not very stable. I had also called MayaPalm before and did not get through. Calling the toll free number to BOS often did not get through, and when I got through it was answering machine. But with some patience, Julie and/or Phil did get around to answering most of my emails. I haven't contacted them after my trip. But for a small start-up shop like them, people's review are very important, and I hope they would pay attention to them, and rectify issues. Only then will they get more business. All in all, I would still say the diving in Mahahual was pretty good. I would go back there to dive again. With many more cruise ships planning to go there, they are building and building up the area. The infrastructure and diving operations there should get better and better.[/QUOTE]


Sorry to hear that n22 had a bad experience in Mahahual but the truth is that the bad experience had nothing to do with Mahahual other than it took place there. Nor, should being in a remote area, having poor infrastructure or just starting out.
Yes it is true that phone service in Mexico is sometimes intermittent if you are trying to get in contact with Maya Palms there are a variety of ways.

info@mayapalms.com
The new Mexico number is 983-836-6292
OR
West End Diving serving St. Louis since 1960
Toll free 1-888-843-3483
Local 314-209-7200
www.2dive.com
Hours of operation:
Monday through Friday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM: to 4:00 PM …….CENTAL TIME

Hopes this helps you out if you would like to contact us Tortontonian
Take Care,
Ken

 

[billeelou]

down the dirt road its about 20 minutes away, and the cost was $8 by the zone card. I dove with them in January, a first class operation and you can get ahold of them in missouri (USA) since they are owned by a US couple. No problems off a ship to get there and back in time, first class operation, if you want to read my review just follow my posts.

www.mayapalms.com they are also listed in the PADI dive shop book issued by PADI

as to the "Phony" PADI OW cert course and no card, all I can say is WOW!! that sux!